


Not a game

by Nico_Writes



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, Sword Art Online (Anime & Manga), The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe, BAMF Nico di Angelo, Character Death, Fluff, Gamer nico, Gamers, M/M, Nico di Angelo/Will Solace Fluff, People are going to die, SAO AU, Short Nico di Angelo, Small Nico di Angelo, Tiny Nico di Angelo, could get darker, this is a SAO Au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-23
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-15 05:35:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28933392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nico_Writes/pseuds/Nico_Writes
Summary: After the death of his sister, Nico uses games as an escape from reality. As it so happens, He was one of the 1,000 people to play the Beta version of Sword Art Online, a new MMORPG. After 3 months, he finally plays the complete game. Sadly his escape from reality will become a grimmer reality.
Relationships: Nico di Angelo/Will Solace
Comments: 2
Kudos: 24





	1. Link Start!

In 20XX, mankind created a device, a device that puts humans into a virtual environment. An out of body experience, so to say.

This device was called: Nerve Gear.

____________________________________________________________________________

Nico was walking home after a long time at school, when a blond boy trips in front of him, accidentally crashing into Nico, making him drop his books. Nico sighs and picks up his books, turning his head to look at the boy. The blond stands up and turns to Nico.

“Sorry about that! I was in a rush. I’m Will, Will Solace.” Will explained putting his hand out for a handshake. Nico looks at the hand in front of him and instead walks around Will, continuing towards his house. Will rushes to Nico's side walking with him.

“You’re Nico Di Angelo, right? I think we share chemistry.” Will said, trying to start a conversation. Nico sighs but decides to ignore the boy. Despite this, Will continues to try to start a conversation with Nico. He has noticed the boy in the back of the class was usually by himself and wanted to be his friend.

Nico continues to ignore him and turns to the driveway of his house, walking to the front door. Will stops walking and waves at him, a look of disappointment on his face. He turns and continues on his way home.

Nico unlocks his door and walks to his room, taking off his shoes once he was inside. He sets his bag down and notices a package on his bed. He picks it up and sees that it’s from Argus, The creator of Nerve Gear. Nico already has a Nerve Gear set, so this could only be one thing. This was the Beta Version Of Sword Art Online, AKA SAO. Nico was lucky enough that the developers chose him and 999 others to play the Beta version.

Nico opens the package and that's the game case out. He opens the case and takes out the game, interesting it into the console. He sets everything up and changes his clothes into something comfier, as well as using the restroom. He puts on the Nerve Gear and lays down. Taking a deep breath, he relaxes and states out loud, “Link start!”

____________________________________________________________________________

  
For 3 months in summer, Nico played the Beta version of SAO. In the end, they only reached the 10th floor. Nico thought that was good progress for 1,000 people, he can’t imagine how much faster they will be able to get through the floors with more people playing the full game. Because he was a Beta player, he was able to pre-order the game. Which was a huge benefit, considering that he didn’t have to stand near other people for hours in a line, just to get the game. Instead, the game will be shipped to his house. It should be on his doorstep on the same day it sells in-store.

Nico sighs and decides to spend the rest of today and tomorrow offline, knowing that he'll be online for a couple of hours that Saturday. He packs up his console and changes into his pajamas. After washing his teeth and plugging in his phone, he tucks himself into bed falling asleep immediately. 

The next day he woke up to the smell of pancakes. He gets up and stretches his arms upward, then gets off the bed slipping on black slippers. Nico goes to the kitchen to see his stepmother, Persephone, making a stack of pancakes. Looking past the middle island, and into the dinning room. His father, Hades Underworld, and his sister, Hazel Levesque, sitting down waiting for everyone to join them for breakfast.

Nico joins them at the table, as Persephone places the large stack of pancakes on the table. They sat down and started to put pancakes on their plates, digging into the fluffy cakes. Hazel and Persephone start talking, making light conversations. 

“So I was thinking that we should go out today. Spend the day together.” Persephone exclaimed, smiling at her husband. Hades looked up at his wife and then looked at Nico.

“If your son can give up that game.” Nico doesn't raise his head but does look up. He finishes chewing the food in his mouth and swallows it.

“I’m taking the day off of gaming since I’ll be playing for hours tomorrow for SAO.” Nico explained.

Hades scoffed and said, “You and that game shit. All you ever do is play dumb games, you never go out with friends, you stay inside all the time by yourself.”

Nico glared and stiffly said, “Well I’m sorry I’m not the picture perfect son for you.” Hazel glanced at both of them, a look of worry on her face.

“I don’t need you to be a perfect son, I just need you to not be so… so...You!” Hades shouted, and instantly regretted it.

“Hades/Dad!” Persephone and Hazel exclaimed, glaring at him. Nico just stared at him. After a second she stood up and rushed to his room. Hades stood up and tried to follow him, only to get a door to the face. He knocks on the door, trying to convince Nico to open the door. After 30 minutes he stops, knowing that Nico won’t open the door any time soon.

Nico wraps himself in his bedsheet, tears rolling down his face. He sniffed, looking off to the side table, a picture of him, Hazel, and his late sister, Bianca. They were so happy in that photo, all innocent and carefree. After the accident, Hazel became more social, wanting to fill the empty void. Nico on the other hand, did the complete opposite, becoming more anti-social, filling the void with video games.

A knock on his door made him turn his head, the pattern alerting him that it was Hazel. He gets up and unlocks the door, letting her in the room. He locks the door behind her and proceeds to sit down on his bed. Hazel sits next to him and leans on his shoulder.

“Dad didn’t mean it, you know that.” She stated. Nico stayed quiet, only looking ahead. They stayed like that for a while not saying anything else. At dinner time they ate separately from Hades and Persephone. After dinner, Nico went to bed waiting for tomorrow.


	2. Town of Beginnings

Sunlight creeps into Nico’s room, shining into his eyes making him grunt as he wakes up. He turns his head, tring to block out the light. After a few minutes of trying to sleep again, he decided to finally get up. He felt so tired and worn out after yesterday, his emotions were so suffocating the other day, but this morning, he only felt a cold empty space in his chest. Nico gets up from his bed, walking to his closet, pulling out a plain black shirt and black sweatpants. Nico knew that his father would want to try to apologize to him, but Nico really didn’t want to deal with that today. Today was all about Sword Art Online, a revolutionary step in Virtual Reality. Nothing was going to get in his way.

Nico knew better than to play on an empty stomach. So he snuck into the kitchen making little to no noise. After making himself a sandwich and grabbing a bottle of water, walks back to his room. He stopped in the middle of the hallway, Hazel in front of him, still in her pajamas, staring into his eyes. She looks down at his hands, seeing his breakfast. She sighs and looks back up, smiling after a second.

“Beat up alot of monsters for me, until I can play tomorrow. Okay?” Nico nodded with a little smile on his face. While Nico was lucky enough to be one of the Beta testers and was able to get the game early, Hazel had to wait till the next day for her to get the online order. She could have stayed in line all night in order to play today, but she didn’t want to wait outside for something she could get tomorrow in the comfort of the house.

They went their separate ways, Hazel leaving with a promise to keep their dad away from him for that day. Nico sat his food down on his desk and slumped on his desk chair. Once he finished eating, he set up his Nerve Gear, inserting the game into his slot. After he did the instructions to pat down the game required, he laid down on his bed. He made sure that he was comfy because he didn’t want to wake up with a sore body from laying in a weird way. He started breathing in and out in even beats, calming himself down. Video games have helped Nico escape his responsibilities and life in general, and he was so excited to play a fully immersive game.

He laid there for another minute holding his breath, waiting for his heart to stop beating so wildly. He opened his eye, saying out loud:

“Link Start!”

____________________________________________________________________________

Opening his eyes he looked around, Seeing the Town of Beginnings. He glazed down and saw that he was in starter armor. He was a little sad that it restarted his account, taking away his levels and items, but he understood why. Not very fair to have items from the upper floors, when everyone else was starting from scratch. He moved his limbs around, noticing that the movement was more natural then in the beta version. The game did save how his avatar looked, so at least he didn’t need to do that all over again. He pulled down his character page and set it to private. Now players who weren’t friends or part of his guild could only see his player name, HP, SP and level.

Now that that was done he walked to the Origin Plains, planning on leveling up a bit. His plan was to get to level 10 by the end of the day, which shouldn’t be a problem since he was planning to play all day. He walked out of the town and into the plain. On the way out he saw a lot of people grouping up already. There was the random solo player or two, already taking on the Boars. Slightly glad he wasn’t the only one who decided to play solo, he went a little farther out and began killing Boars, leveling up after a few kills. He spent a couple hours doing this, leveling himself up to level 9.

‘Guess they made it harder to level up here than in the Beta.’ Nico gathered after killing the last Boar in the area. He decided to take a break and look at the scenery. After a few minutes he saw someone running from a Boar. He watched for a while, until the person spotted him, yelling at him to help, “Please help me! It’s going to kill me!”

Nico sighs as the man runs to him, the Boar following after. Nico stepped forward taking his sword out of its sheath, the movement fluid and lethal. At the end of the arch, the sword slid down the middle of the boar, slicing it in half. Nico turned to look at the man, having to look up. He had short light blue hair and gold eyes. Obliviously, he decided to get a tall avatar. Nico couldn’t figure out if he did that because he was tall IRL or because he was short IRL. Looking further up, he saw his level, name, and health.

He was low on health, he noticed while reading his name and level, Jupiter LV. 3.

“Thanks for helping me out, um…” He looked above Nico’s head, “Nyx. I know that it wasn’t very high leveled, but my health was low, so I panicked.” Nico was going to ignore him and walk away but a flash from yesterday popped up in his head.

_“Hades scoffed and said, “You and that game shit. All you ever do is play dumb games, you never go out with friends, you stay inside all the time by yourself.”_

Nico knew that he owed him nothing but his father's words rang in his ears. Nico sigh and tilted his head looking up at Jupiter, “You know you can heal yourself, right?”

Jupiter looked surprised for a second but it quickly turned into confusion.

“Is it a perk you automatically get?”

“No, it’s called using a health potion. Everyone gets 5 when you start the game.” Nico answered bluntly and cringed inside immediately afterward. Maybe his dad was right to some degree, he really didn’t know how to be social. Surprisingly the reaction he got was the opposite of what he was expecting.

“Really?!” He pulled up his menu and selected items. Low and behold, 5 health potions waiting to be put into good use. “Wow, I didn’t even know! You’re really good at this game, don’t think I didn’t notice how smooth that attack was.”

Nico didn't know what to think, most people didn’t like his ‘attitude’ or choice of words. Maybe he can be friends with this Jupiter guy.

“Hey, if it’s no problem, can I hang out with you? I need to level up some so I can do a quest. Help me out one more time?” Jupiter questioned.

Nico was even more shocked, someone was asking him to hang out. Nico realized that this could be a new start for him, he could become more social online, practice for real life. After careful consideration, he pulled up his menu and sent a friend request to Jupiter. A look of shock appeared on Jupiter's face before a huge smile replaced it.

“Hell yeah! We’re going to be the strongest players ever!”

“Woah there, calm down mister level 3.” Nico teased, testing the water, seeing how far he can take it. Jupiter laughed and stated, “Haha, I know it doesn’t look like it right now, but mark my words, one day it will happen!”

Nico laughed, quietly noting that he hasn't enjoyed anyone's company like this in a while, at least anyone that wasn’t Hazel. Jupiter accepted his friend request and together they fought, Nico staying on the sidelines, so most of the experience would go to Jupiter.

After hours of playing, Nico checked the IRL clock that was in settings, 6:26 pm. About 12 hours in here, but still, he thought another hour would hurt him. Jupiter had leveled up to level 10, Nico at level 13, three more levels than he was planning on making. Jupiter stretched, a move not needed in VR but clearly a reflex.

“Man, as much as I would love to play more, I gotta go. I have to go have dinner with my sister.” Jupiter pulled up his menu, flicking through it. Nico nodded and said, “it’s cool, we can play together again. Tomorrow okay?”

Jupiter smiled and agreed before looking down at his menu, Nico turning around planning on fighting a bundle of monsters nearby. After a moment Jupiter looked up at Nico’s retreating back. “Hey, noob question but where’s the logout button?”

Nico let out a little chuckle while turning back around. As he walked back to him, he pulled his menu out saying, “It’s right here you dofus.” Only to stop walking once he saw that the logout button was blank. With a raised brow he tried clicking it only for nothing to happen. The two looked at each other, confusion written on their faces.

“It must be a bug, they’re probably running around headquarters trying to fix it. Not very good on the first day of launch.” Nico said with certainty. Jupiter sigh but nodded along. Hopefully, his sister can get the Nerve Gear off of him so they can discuss how to get away from their father's iron fist. Jupiter looked back at the menu, closing it.

“How about we level up a bit more than until they fix this?” Nico agreed with him and off they went. Though they didn’t get too far. A light engulfs them, Nico absently notices that it was the teleporting animation. Once the light dims down Nico looks around, seeing Jupiter next to him, fortunately. Jupiter turns to him and opens his mouth, but before he can utter a word, the sky turns red, and a bunch of hexagons appear, they seem to have written on them, but Nico couldn’t see them from afar. Then, what appears to be blood, starts to pour from between the shapes, forming into a cloaked being. The being raises his arm and spreads them as if to give a hug.

“Hello, players of Sword Art Online. I am Kronos, creator of Sword Art Online.”


	3. Life changing event

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait, had a few IRL things to do. Here y'all go.

“Hello, players of Sword Art Online. I am Kronos, creator of Sword Art Online.” Immediately everyone around Nico started to talk amongst themselves. Nico heard a few of the conversations near him. “Is that the GameMaster?” “What’s going on?” “What do you mean blue is a basic color?!” “Is this an opening ceremony?”

After that Nico tuned everyone out and raised his eyes to the cloaked being. “I welcome you to my World, and from here on out, I am in control of this world.”

Once again the talking erupted, “Is this really Kronos?” “The guy sure knows how to make an entrance.” Suddenly a pit of dread pooled in Nico’s stomach, though he had no idea why.

He soon figured out why with Kronos’ next words. “I sure you have noticed by now, but a certain item has been missing from your main menu” He then swipes his left hand down, pulling up his menu, “The logout button.”

“Let me assure you this is not a defect in the game, nor is it a bug. This is how I designed Sword Art online to be. You can not leave, nor can anyone from the outside shut down or remove the headset. If they do attempt this, a transmitter in the nerve gear will send a microwave signal into your skull, destroying your brain, therefore ending your life.”

All at once, people started to speak out, “This is nuts!” “This is a load of BS!” “This guy is crazy!”

Jupiter spoke out as well, turning to Nico, “This guy is full of himself, right Nyx?”

“I don’t Jupiter, I don't know too much about electronics, but it could be possible,” Nico replied looking at Jupiter with a concerned face.

“Well won’t it eventually run out of battery?”

“I don’t think so, I think it has an eternal battery,” Nico stated as he remembered playing the Beta for a day and a half, just to test the battery only to find it still on 100%. At first, it was cool, but now it’s terrifying.

Kronos once again went off, “Despite my warning, many family and friends have attempted to remove the headgear, ending 213 lives, forever deleting them in both Aincrad and in real life.” Murmurs of shock and disbelief ran across the crowd. Jupiter and Nico looking at each other in shock. Nonetheless, Kronos continued talking, pulling up multiple new networks from around the world.

“As you can see new outlets everywhere are covering everything, including the deaths, showing that removing the nerve gear is a grave mistake. Hopefully, this brings you a little comfort as you try to beat the game.” As he was saying this, Nico focused on a family, obviously grieving behind police tape. Nico could only think about Hazel and how she is taking this, knowing that she would have been trapped here too if she didn’t delay buying the game. Relief settles in Nico, happy that his sister didn’t have to be trapped too.

“Know this, there is no longer a way to revive a player, if your HP hits zero in-game, your avatar is deleted from the game, and the nerve gear will instantly destroy your brain, ending your life.”

A flashback entered Nico’s mind, Jupiter running from a Boar, his health bar frighteningly low. Nico felt a wave of nausea flood him. ‘Oh god, I nearly let Jupiter die right in front of me, all because I couldn’t be bothered.’ At that moment, Nico felt like the world's biggest asshole. He looked to Jupiter, who was already looking at him, only to see relief in his eyes. Nico opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by Kronos.

“The only way for a player to escape Sword Art Online is to beat the game. Defeat all 100 floors, and everyone will be released from the game.”

Everyone slowly started to panic, confused about whether or not to believe in the cloaked figure. “All 100 floors? That’s impossible!” “Is this even true?!” “Not even the Beat testers made it that far!” 

“I also left you all an item in your inventory, please have a look.” Immediately everyone opened their menus to see the aforementioned item, Nico included. Nico clicked on his inventory seeing a new item there, a Mirror. Confused, he clicked on it, bringing it out, into physical form. Holding onto the Mirror and looking into it, a light started to engulf Nico. He let out a gasp, hearing others around him do the same.

Once the light faded Nico looked around, not recognizing the people around him.

“Hey Nyx, are you okay?!” Nico heard Jupiter ask from behind. Nico turned looking for the blue-haired man, only to see a blond boy with blue eyes. Nico stared at him in confusion, asking who the boy was.

“I’m Jupiter, who are you?.” The blond asked, confused. Nico looked down at the mirror again, only to see himself staring back. A shocked gasp left Nico’s mouth. He looked up at Jupiter, answering Jupiter’s question. “I’m Nyx.”

They looked at each other in shock before Jupiter said, “So this is how you really look IRL?”

“Yeah.”

"That will be it, good luck players." And with that Kronos evaporated into thin air.

They were quiet for a bit, people talking around them, confused as well. Then someone started to scream and cry, a few others joining in. Jupiter looked around for a bit, before grabbing Nico’s arm and dragging him away into the town. After a while, once the yelling quieted out, they stopped.

“So what now,” Jupiter said, looking at Nico. Nico looked up at him, the avatar height supposed Jupiter real height and shrugged. Jupiter sighed and turned away for a sec, look at where they were. Around them were NPCs, shop owners, and random townspeople. After a few seconds, he turned back to Nico.

“Look Nyx, I really don’t want to be alone, I don't usually play games like this and you seem to know your way around. Can we team up or something? I know I'll probably slow you down, but I have to at least ask.”

Nico looked at Jupiter, a no sitting on his tongue, but the flashback on Jupiters' near-death appeared and Nico hesitated. Nico knew logically that he couldn’t save everyone, he knew people were going to die, but the thought of Jupiter dying sent a chill down his spine. He thought about the request again, sure it will slow him down a bit, with Jupiter being new to these kinds of games, but Jupiter was one of the only few people who wasn’t put off by him or his sense of humor. In fact, despite being more knowledgeable in the game than him, Jupiter still asked him if he was okay, and didn’t leave him behind in the crowd of confused and scared people.

Nico made his decision, he was going to stay with Jupiter.

“Okay, I’ll stay with you.”

“Really?!”

“Yeah, but we're making a guild, that way we can get guild benefits, like more side quests and exp,” Nico stated. Jupiter immediately agreed, a look of relief and happiness on his face. 

“This is going to be awesome!”

“We should go to the next town, there will be a few NPCs with better quests over there. We can discuss a name for our Guild on the way.” Nico explained walking to the exit nearby, Jupiter following behind.

“How about, The Liberators!”

“No.” 

“The freedom fighters?”

“Nope.”

“Heroes of SAO?”

“God no.”


	4. Guild Master

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was longer than intended. Oops.

The field was filled with wasp-like monsters and boars. Jupiter and Nico continue along killing any monsters coming near them. Both of them at level 14, Nico letting Jupiter kill most of the monsters, so they can be on the same level. Nico didn’t mind, it put his mind in a more stable state, knowing that he wouldn’t have to worry too much.

As they continue forward, Jupiter returns to trying to find a good guild name, one they can both agree on.

“Okay, okay. How about ‘wings of victory’?

“Too hopeful.”

“Well, maybe that’s what people need. Some hope.” Jupiter said slashing at a boar. Nico sighed and slashed at another boar that wandered too close.

“Don’t be so… so… you.” He said, rolling his eyes.

“Well sadly, I only know how to be…” Jupiter started only to trail off. Nico slowed down and turned to Jupiter, confusion clear on his face. They stared at each other for a few seconds. Nico knew it probably had something to do with real-life stuff, and while they were stuck in the game for an unforeseeable time, it still wasn’t too smart to share too much info with others you just meet.

“Hey… it’s fine, you don’t need to be fake around me. I was only joking around. I like how you are.” Nico said turning back around, continuing to the next town. Jupiter quickly followed, an unseen smile on his face.

“I like you too, Nyx.” and with that, they carried on.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The pair arrived at the entrance of the next town, still bickering about their guild name.

“How about ‘Swords of Victory’?” Jupiter proposed. Nico sighed and replied, “Nope, I’m not going around with a name like that anywhere near my info page. How about ‘Death’s Vangaurd’?”

“And there’s no fucking way I’m going around with that emo ass name on my info page.” Jupiter retaliated. Nico stared at him for a bit, before he started laughing, Jupiter joining him after a few seconds.

“Okay, okay, I got one.” Jupiter spat out after a minute of laughing. “How about one that fits both our names, since we are the founders of this guild.” Nico nods, silently telling him to continue. Encouraged, Jupiter carries on. 

“How about something like… ‘Gods of Unity’? You know, because we’re both have cliche usernames that are based on gods.”

“Usernames? How rude of you, this is my real name.” Nico said, putting his hand on his chest, a look of betrayal on his face.

“If that is your real name, I’m 1, questioning your parent’s mental state for naming you after the goddess of the night, and 2, concerned that you used that for your username,” Jupiter said with a raised brow. Nico tried to keep a straight face but failed miserably.

“I’m joking with you, that’s not my real name. All jokes aside though, I actually like that name. Gods of Unity.” and with that, the two went to the market area of the town, going up to the NPC that’ll let them create their guild. Nico convinced Jupiter to make it, saying that he was more friendly than he was. Jupiter greeted it and invited Nico who, of course, joined. Jupiter then made Nico guild Deputy, so Nico can help manage guild members as well as start guild events and dungeons. 

It was starting to get late, so they went to the inn that the town had. They rented a room with two beds, to save money. Once they laid down they knocked out, sleeping through the night. They woke up around the late morning, going to the market to talk to the blacksmith NPC to upgrade their weapons. Jupiter upgraded his bow and sword, while Nico focused more on his sword. 

After that, they went to the back alleys talking to a few NPC’s about the dungeon boss to help them start a plan on how to defeat it. After gathering that info, they went to the NPC that’ll give them the guild quest if all guild members were level 10.

They talked to the NPC, who then teleported the two to the dungeon. Once there they looked over their objective again. Gather 10 wolf fangs, 10 wasp stingers, and kill the dungeon boss, gorgumon, The Demon Bird. Nico didn’t think that a flying monster belongs on the first floor, but it’s not like he could change it. They went forward, both looking everywhere, knowing that even though the monsters weren’t high level one mistake or critical strike could kill them. They watched each other’s back, a little clumsy at first, but quickly got the hang of it. 

After going to multiple rooms they claimed the boss rooms key. They saw a door with detailed designs of birds and looked at each other, quickly deciding to heal up first making sure to level up any skills they could. Nico focusing on stealth and attack, with Jupiter equally distributing between attack and defense, saying that it’s better to have both than just one. Nico agreed, leveling his defense only a little.

“Okay, from what we gathered from a few NPC’s the boss will start off on the floor, and its attack pattern will be to swing at the forward attaching person. Then its second stage with happen when we bring it to its last health bar. In which it’ll break the roof and will fly around for a bit until it dives down to hit one of us.” Nico summarized the info they collected.

Jupiter nodded, holding his chin with his hand looking up at the doors, “So we’ll start off with me forward attacking, and you sneaking from behind getting as much damage possible and swapping out when it gets too aggressive, rinse and repeat that until the second stage starts.” Jupiter turns to Nico, “Can we attack it while it’s in the air? That’ll probably be safer.”

“Yeah, we can, but my bow isn’t a powerful as my sword, so let’s make it crash when it dives for us and barrage it.” Nico countered argued. Jupiter looked like he was contemplating something before pulling up his inventory.

“How about I give you my bow? It’s more enhanced than yours and that way we can damage it more.” Nico opened his mouth to argue but Jupiter continued, “I have higher defense, so we can still make it crash it and I’ll go in to attack. I know you’re more experienced than me, but I need you to back me up and watch my back.” Nico huffed and turned away from him, contemplating his plan. As much as he wants to protect his friend, he knew he couldn’t baby Jupiter. Besides, it wasn’t a bad plan, they got different skills for a reason.

“Fine, we’ll go with your plan,” Nico stated, pulling up his menu, waiting for a trading request from Jupiter. They traded bows, and Nico sets the bow up as his secondary weapon. As they neared the doors, Nico lets out a little laugh, which makes Jupiter turn to him with a questioning gaze.

“You know, you make a great guild leader,” Nico informed Jupiter. Jupiter looked shocked at the compliment and then smiled at Nico. Jupiter pulls out the boss key, slipping it into its slot. The doors open, reviling a room with a green and blue bird sleeping in the center. The bird raises its head to look at them and lets out a loud caw, lifting itself upon two legs. On its chest was a gem, embedded into the bird, its weakest spot. On top of its head showed its name and the two health bars. It immediately rushes towards the two players. They went to different sides of the room, Jupiter getting closer in order to keep its attention.

Nico stalked around the bird, waiting for an opening. Jupiter got a few hits in, only chipping its health a little bit. The bird reared its head back and sprung towards Jupiter, who dodges out of the way. The second this happened Nico darted in barraging its weak spot with his sword. He got a few slashes in and retreated when the bird swung its wings out. They repeated this till its health reached its last bar. 

The bird let out an ear-piercing screech, which blew the roof off. It spread its wings flapping them, raising itself to the sky. After a few laps, it dived to Jupiter, who dodges, making it crash, and slashed at it with his sword. Once it flew up again Nico shot at it with his bow, chipping away at its health. They continued this for a while but then the boss did something unexpected. Once it crashed, instead of laying there dazed, it spun towards Nico, who wasn’t prepared. It slashed at him with full force. And with low defense and no time to raise a shield, Nico was hurt badly, HP dangerously low. In that split second everything slowed down, and Nico was numb to everything happening around him. At that moment he knew that he was going to die. It was kind of ironic, he was a Beta tester, he knew this game, and this game, the game he spent months playing, was going to be the end of him.

Nico didn’t want to die, he wanted to live, to see his sister again. To try making IRL friends. To finding love. Nico didn’t want to die but accepted his death, he only wished that Jupiter lived.

He was so sure of his death that he was surprised when the boss reared back with a final screech, exploding into little bits of light. The victory screen popped up in front of Nico, and through that screen, he can see Jupiter with his sword extended out to where the boss died. They stared at each other for a while, the area around them silent. A beat passed and then Jupiter lunged forward to Nico. he summoned a healing crystal, healing Nico to full health.

Once he was in full health, he wrapped his arms around Jupiter. Normally he wouldn’t be this physical with someone, especially someone he only knew for about a day, but he nearly died and the closes person to him was the one who saved him. The two of them sat there in each other’s arms, calming themselves down from the fight.

Nico was able to mumble out a, “Thank you.” which Jupiter nodded to, staying quiet.

While they were comfortable with killing off low monsters, that instance of uncertainty left them shocked. One miscalculation nearly killed one of them. At that moment, everything came crashing down. Nico almost died, his life nearly ended, and for all, they knew Jupiter could have died.

Once they calmed down, they checked the rewards they got. They both leveled up to 15, Nico almost to level 16. They also got a few upgrading materials and Jupiter got a sky javelin.

With that they clicked the return to town button, teleporting back to the NPC, who thanked them for gathering the supplies and clearing the dungeon for them, giving them money and more exp. Points, leveling Nico up to level 16 and Jupiter right behind him, a couple of exp. points from leveling up. They headed back to the town’s inn, claiming a room for the night, spending some of the money they got from the quest. Sitting down at the inn restaurant, which was empty except for the NPCs, and ordered some food. They were quiet for a while, until Jupiter said, “I almost didn’t make it.”

Nico stopped eating and just stared and him for a while.

“It okay Jupiter,” he said in a low voice.

Suddenly Jupiter slammed his hands down, “NO IT’S NOT! YOU NEARLY DIED BECAUSE OF ME!”

Nico was confused. What the hell was he talking about, he saved Nico. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“I made the plan and you nearly were killed can’t you see that that was my fault! You should be guild master, not me.” Jupiter spewed out a look of anguish on his face.

“Jupiter, there was no way of knowing that gorgumon was going to switch its last attack. yes, I nearly died. And I’ll admit that I was scared for a second there but you saved me. And there is nothing that you can say that’ll change my mind about you being the guild master.” Nico said sincerely. 

Jupiter looked down at his food and then looked up to Nico.

“Jason.”

“Huh?”

“Jason, that my real name.”

Nico was shocked that Jason trusted him enough with his real name, but he understood why. With such a close call with death, they wanted someone who could watch their back and who better than someone who was nearly there for you from the start? Nico smiled and also made the decision to trust Jason.

“Nico.”

They smiled and continued to talk about themselves, about mediocre stuff, such as favorite colors and food. After two hours of chatting, they decided to retire to their room. The room had a bed on opposite sides of the room with furniture placed around the room to make it feel more real despite the fact that it’s basically useless. With all the excitement from today, their bodies decided to finally shut off. Both of them falling asleep knowing that they had someone watching their back.


End file.
